


Journey's end

by millygal



Series: Journeys [2]
Category: Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 03:35:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/millygal/pseuds/millygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has their own road to travel</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journey's end

Alex shuts the door to the Railway Arms and comes face to face with Ray, Chris, Shaz and...and, no way!

She'd expected the inside of the bar, she'd expected 'Nelson' to be tending to the many ferried souls all needing a stiff one before they went on to their own specific afterlives.

She'd expected anything but the visage of Sam Tyler, in full 1970's regalia, tight trousers, wide collar, beaten and abused leather jacket clinging to his laughing frame, sat at the bar, whiskey in hand.

Ray's got a pint of mild in one hand and a fag in the other, Chris is happily having a laugh with Sam at the bar, Shaz hanging off his arm, looking lovingly on as her other half catches up with an old mate.

"But, you..you moved on!"

Chris quiets, Shaz smiles and Ray just grimaces and ignores the whole scene.

Sam turns on his stool, hands on his knees, head tilted quizzically to one side, "So you're DI Alex Drake. Welcome to the best bar in all of Manchester. Beer's a little shit but the bar staff make up for it"

Nelson leans over the bar and thwacks Sam on the back of the head with a rolled up news paper, "Hey hey, don't be complainin' 'bout the beer Mr Tyler. I can always kick your backside out you know"

"You wouldn't dare"

Rolling his eyes, Nelson goes back to cleaning the pumps.

Alex can feel the floor slipping away from underneath her and before she hits the sawdust, Sam deftly hops off his stool and sits her on it, "Hey, calm, breath"

Throwing her head from left to right, Alex tries to dislodge the cotton wool from between her ears, "But you...Sam, you were meant to have gone. Gene said, he said..."

Leaning up against the bar, Sam smiles and nods, "Hmm, the Guv says a lot of things Drake, you should've figured that out by now!"

"Why are you still here?"

Retrieving his scotch, Sam swirls the liquid in his glass and contemplates the meaning of life. Funny thing, heaven. Not quite what he'd been expecting, well, he'd only been there a sum total of about five minutes but...

What to tell Alexandra Drake... She's already been to the in between and back. Had to deal with losing her daughter and the not so genteel afterlife she'd slowly become accustomed to. Had to find out that she could quite easily have fallen for the overbearing bore that is Gene Hunt only to have to leave him behind. Sam knows how all that feels and he also knows that nothing cuts the mustard quite like a good old dose of the truth.

Well, she's already been inside his head, he may aswell let her in on his afterlife.

"I did pass over. It didn't take"

Alex finds herself holding a very large glass of red and wonders if that's the thing about this place. Wish it, need it, have it?

Taking a huge gulp of her wine, she stares at Sam and tries to understand what he's attempting to tell her.

"It didn't take! What, you went and came back?"

Nodding and smiling, Sam takes a sip of his drink, "Yep"

"Why?"

"The Guv"

"What, he stopped you leaving, does he know you're here?"

"No, no, he doesn't...Oh for god's sake. Right, it's really simple. I..we..me and Gene we were..."

"Oh...OH. You mean you and Gene Hunt?"

Grinning at his own nervousness, still, even now, Sam nods. "Uh huh"

"How long?"

Sliding himself up onto a bar stool, Sam tries to work it out, almost having to count on his fingers..."Umm, about eight years, if that's how times worked there"

Alex is very confused, she'd been told, well Sam had recorded his 'adventures' and he'd spoken about Annie. Annie Cartwright, she thought they'd been..."What about Annie, I thought you two.."

Shrugging his shoulders, Sam levels his gaze on the woman sat opposite doing a grand impression of a fish, "We were almost, but, well me and the Guv just kinda happened. In amongst all the crazy we just clicked"

"Why didn't you say, in your recordings, in the tapes you sent me.."

Sam chuckles and leans forward, "Oh yea, I can see that going down a storm in psych evaluation, 'I am DCI Sam Tyler, I ended up in 1973 whilst in my coma and decided to start nobbing my boss!' there are some things Alex, that are just too personal, even for you girls and boys in profiling"

Alex takes another mouthful of wine and chews over the idea of Sam and Gene. In her minds eye she can see it. It's not a huge leap, not for someone so in touch with his male side as Gene. They often say that unreconstructed men are the most likely to be hiding their 'light under a bushel' as it were. Huh. Who knew.

"But, him and me, we almost..."

Laying a settling hand on Alex's arm, Sam smiles a genuine smile, "I don't think Gene cares about sex Alex. Tits or testys, it's all the same to him. That sounds harsh but it's not meant to be. Gene by his very nature, as someone who chose to do the work he's doing for the souls of police men and woman all over the afterlife, doesn't see sex. He sees essence. Even when he forgets what it is he's set out to do. He still senses the soul inside the wrapping"

Alex nods and sees the truth in what Sam is saying. Gene wouldn't care, wouldn't worry about the how of a person, just the who inside. The pure soul of a human being that he finds lovable.

"I think he could fall in love with a goat so long as he found something attractive about it's personality"

Sam almost spits scotch across the bar and grins at the new addition to his pub, "Hmm, succinctly put DI Drake"

"Doesn't answer why you're still here though Sam. What happened?"

Sobering for a moment, stilling with the memory, Sam remembers the day he'd walked through those doors.

"I didn't wanna leave. I didn't want to leave Gene behind. Ok, stupid, I know. I can't leave the pub. Can't actually touch the man. But, I can watch. I see everything from here. I think when I entered heaven and my heart and soul so desperately wanted to be somewhere else, someone 'up there' decided I could have what I wanted and I could have the ability to monitor what goes on 'out there' "

It's an odd concept, but then again, Alex is sat in a 'bar' with tens of dead coppers all drinking and smoking and acting like it's another night after another job, so odd is relative.

She suddenly understands why Sam's here. What it is he's waiting for.

"What if he never finishes Sam? What if he never decides to step through those doors himself?"

Sam contemplates that for a moment and answers completely honestly, "I believe he will. One day he will feel he's fulfilled his destiny. He'll be tired, and he'll be done, and he'll want his own 'ending' on that day, I'll be here"

"That could be a millennia"

"We don't age here Alex. The ones who stay in this little corner of their own universe. Nelson's been here since Gene started this thing and that's a lot longer than you'd think. Time moves differently here. We watch, we wait, and in my case, I hope"

"But you're powerless here"

Sam gives her a look that says otherwise and realisation dawns, "It was you!"

"What was me Alex?"

"You, it was you, the helping hands, the signs, the down right bloody terrifying clown. All you!"

Sam's glass appears to magically refill itself and he shakes his head no, "Not all me. Nelson's been here a long time remember. We kind of just share now. It's our responsibility to watch over the universe that Gene Hunt's decided to become sheriff of"

"Then why did you leave him. If you felt such a strong need to watch over him that you expelled yourself from heaven, why did you leave!"

"Because, everything has got to be in it's rightful place"

Alex grins and remembers something Gene'd said in one of their many drunken conversations, "He always said you were a bloody irritating friend. Picky pain in the arse, was it?"

Sam's laugh is filled with natural affection, "That'd be it, that'd be me. But from here, I can make sure he's safe, mostly. Even if he is the worlds most danger friendly man"

"How long will you wait?"

"As long as it takes. Please forgive the hubris of this next comment but it's the only way I can explain it. I think that I was always meant to be here, and the Guv was always meant to be there. And one day, how ever many days there are in between, one day, Gene will get his reward for doing the work he does, over and over again. And, I will be that reward"

Alex takes a second and sees how exactly right that is, how exactly true those words feel inside her mind.

"Doesn't it upset you, seeing the many men and women passing through his life, him forming attachments to them?"

Shaking his head, taking another sip, Sam shrugs and smiles, "No. How could it? He's alone Alex, he has a few fleeting moments with each person compared to the person's individual journey. I find it comforting to see him taking solace where he can. Even if he forgets why he needs solace from time to time"

Sam stands from the stool, dusts himself off and offers Alex his hand, "Now, I do believe you have a date with some family members that are quite excited to see you"

"But, wouldn't you want me to stay, for company?"

Sam nods towards Nelson, who's studying them intently, "No, I've got all the company I need, plus, for all the reasons I've chosen to stay, I wouldn't wish this for anyone else. To each person their own destiny"

Alex nods, takes Sam's hand and feels a few sparks of hope rising through her heart and lungs, "Mum, and Dad? even though he..."

"Even though...I'm not the one who decides fates Alex, people choose those for themselves. Now, you coming or what?"

Sam leads her round the back of the bar and out into the back room where a door stands closed. Nothing spectacular, just the back alley entrance, but Alex can feel the pulse of something immense behind the shut piece of wood.

"My own destiny?"

"Yours and no others"

She lets go of Sam's hand, reaches out, clasps the door handle and takes a deep breath.

A bright light, a strong wind, a scent of cut grass and warm chocolate and then Sam's alone in the back room. Smiling and wondering what Gene's up to now.

Wandering back out into the bar, he sees Ray, Chris and Shaz walk towards the bar hatch and nods to each one in turn.

Nelson tips his glass at each of them as they filter past him and turns to Sam, "Another set of people served, fancy having a glance and seeing what the old sod's up to now?"

Sam nods and closes his eyes and enjoys the sensation of slotting back into Gene's life, how ever intangibly, for another adventure with his stubborn, pig headed, pain in the arse, loving, courageous, selfless DCI.


End file.
